2025 Haru Basho: Day 14 results, replays and analysis
There are spoilers in this post.
Our penultimate day of the 2025 haru basho brought some drama as we seek to determine our second top division champion of the year.
On this day Takayasu fought Churanoumi and Onosato fought Daeisho. A win for Takayasu and a loss for Onosato would deliver Takayasu his first career emperor’s cup. A Takayasu loss would mean that the title winner would be determined on Day 15.
Scroll down to see what happened on Day 14 and find out if we have a new champion or if we have to wait another 24 hours.
Oh and don’t forget to subscribe to Sumo Stomp! for your chance to win a Goeido tegata, courtesy of TegataStore.com.
Bonus gif today is the Battle Pug, Daieisho.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Onokatsu (9-5) def. Ryuden (5-9) via yorikiri (frontal force out)
Midorifuji (8-6) def. Sadanoumi (7-7) via sukuinage (beltless arm throw)*
Meisei (8-6) def. Mitakeumi (6-8) via yorikiri
Nishikigi (3-11) def. Shirokuma (5-9) via yorikiri
Shonannoumi (4-10) def. Asakoryu (6-8) via oshitaoshi (frontal push down)*
Shishi (9-5) def. Endo (7-7) via oshitaoshi
Shodai (5-9) def. Kotoshoho (7-7) via kotenage (armlock throw)*
Tokihayate (10-4) def. Tamawashi (9-5) via tsukiotoshi (thrust down)*
Aonishiki (10-4) def. Takerufuji (9-5) via yorikiri*
Churanoumi (10-4) def. Takayasu (11-3) via yorikiri*
Hakuoho (8-6) def. Tobizaru (6-8) via oshidashi
Gonoyama (6-8) def. Takarafuji (3-11) via tsukiotoshi
Chiyoshoma (6-8) def. Takansoho (3-11) via oshidashi (frontal push out)
Oshoma (9-5) def. Wakatakakage (8-6) via hatakikomi (slap down)
Wakamotoharu (8-6) def. Atamifuji (6-8) via yorikiri*
Kirishima (7-7) def. Kinbozan (5-9) via okuridashi (rear push out)*
Ura (6-8) def. Abi (6-8) via oshidashi*
Oho (6-8) def. Ichiyamamoto (6-8) via oshidashi
Onosato (11-3) def. Daieisho (9-5) via oshidashi*
Hiradoumi (9-5) def. Kotozakura (8-6) via yorikiri
*Must see bouts!
Leaderboard
O1e Onosato, M4e Takayasu: 11-3
M14w Churanoumi, M15e Aonishiki, M18e Tokihayate: 10-4
Analysis
Takayasu fell out of the driving seat on Day 14. He lost to Churanoumi and Onosato beat Daieisho. That means, on the final day, Takayasu needs to win his first bout to stand a chance of claiming the cup. If Onosato loses, he takes the title. If Onosato wins, then they’ll head to a play-off.
Things would have been much easier for Takayasu had he been able to seal the deal against Churanoumi. And it looked like he was about to do that after a furious start to their bout.
Takayasu approached this bout like he did his bout with Wakamotoharu yesterday; with blistering intensity. Yesterday Takayasu overwhelmed Wakamotoharu with his tsuppari. He backed him down and pushed him out in short order.
Churanoumi is not Wakamotoharu, though. Wakamotoharu is a yotsu guy who much prefers grappling over striking. Churanoumi is an oshi guy. He loves to push and thrust. And he’s in my All Violence Team, too. Churanoumi is a brawler who invites and welcomes these violent confrontations.
When Takayasu had him on the ropes, Churanoumi didn’t crack under the pressure.
Takayasu had Wakamotoharu in the exact position as what we see above. Wakamotoharu froze and kept taking punishment before being pushed out.
Churanoumi toughed it out, though and drove forwards, into contact.
Getting in Takayasu’s grill took away Takayasu’s ability to tee off on him from distance. Churanoumi was then able to push Takayasu back from this position. Takayasu assumed Churanoumi would want to respond with thrusts of his own. He defended a few of those and Churanoumi then surprised him by going for his belt.
Takayasu tried to respond by grabbing Churanoumi’s belt, but Churanoumi smartly backed away to put his mawashi out of reach.
Churanoumi’s belt grab may have been a stalling/distraction tactic. Once Takayasu became focused on grappling, Churanoumi released the grip and brought his arms inwards to focus pressure on Takayasu’s body.
This is where Churanoumi went back to his oshi-zumo. And he used that to get Takayasu moving backwards towards the boundary.
Takayasu was able to halt that charge and then get his own oshi game going. He pushed Churanoumi back with hard thrusts. He then made a big mistake. Instead of continuing to strike Churanoumi he decided to jump backwards, in hopes he could score a slapdown or a hand pull down. He might have made this decision because he was not confident that he could get Churanoumi out with thrusts, probably due to how hard that was in the first phase of this contest.
If you watch from the 0:57 mark (at 0.25 speed) you’ll see Takayasu jump backwards, without any purchase on Churanoumi (he flapped with his hand looking for a wrist, but came up empty). All Takayasu did was create space. He didn’t do anything to impede Churanoumi as he did that.
After two hops, Takayasu was left in this position:
It wasn’t very hard for Churanoumi to get the push out from here.
This bout happened early in the night, so Onosato knew that he could tie Takayasu in the lead if he beat Daieisho. And that’s what he did, relatively easily.
Onosato took a ‘keep it simple, stupid’ approach to this bout. He knew Daieisho would meet him in the middle and want to exchange pushes and thrusts. Onosato also knew he’s stronger than Daieisho and would win that battle, so long as he didn’t over extend and miss (and thus get pulled down). To prevent that happening, Onosato basically hit Daieisho with a football tackle and then pushed off. Having his hands in close meant Daieisho couldn’t grab one and pull him down or past him.
That win now gives Onosato the momentum in this basho and, in my opinion, makes him the favourite to take home the cup. Tomorrow he’ll again have the luxury of being able to see how Takayasu does before fighting his own bout (a benefit of being an ozeki).
There are three other rikishi with a mathematical chance of winning the cup tomorrow. They are Churanoumi (earned through his win over Takayasu), Aonishiki and Tokihayate.
Aonishiki got to a 10-4 record with an impressive win over Takerufuji. The 20 year-old top division debutant was able to stand up to Takerufuji’s rush and then level change to get both hands on his waist for the eventual push out.
Tokihayate came through a very fun bout with Tamawashi. Tokihayate stood up to Tamawashi’s thrusting pressure and then pulled off a slick side-step on the boundary to earn his tenth win.
Both Takerufuji and Tamawashi were fighting for 10-4 records themselves and the position that Aonishiki and Tokihayate now find themselves in.
We now have quite the set of dominos set up on the final day.
The first title implicating bout on the card is Takayasu vs. Abi. Takayasu is 6-8 against Abi and he beat him in January.
If Takayasu wins against Abi he eliminates Tokihayate, Aonishiki and Churanoumi from title contention.
Onosato is in the last bout of the day. He fights Kotozakura. If Takayasu won his fight, Onosato needs to beat Kotozakura to force a play-off with Takayasu. If he loses, Takayasu gets the cup.
If Takayasu and Onosato both lose they will go into a play-off. If that happens, Tokihayate, Aonishiki and Churanoumi can join them in the play-off if they win their matches.
Aonishiki has drawn Oho on the final day. This would be their first ever meeting and another all Ukrainian match-up (Oho’s grandfather — the legendary Taiho was half-Ukrainian).
Churanoumi has Daieisho and Tokihayate has Kirishima.
Daieisho needs to win to keep his ozeki run alive. Kirishima needs to win to get his kachi-koshi (winning record) and keep his komusubi rank.
Fun stuff, eh?
Couple more matches to show you before I head out of here.
Ura may have his losing record, but he can still delight his hometown fans. On Day 14 he pushed out Abi, handing the komusubi his make-koshi (losing record).
Midorifuji secured his kachi-koshi on Day 14, his first since last July. He did that by throwing down Sadanoumi in an exciting tilt.
Day 14 saw lots of kashi-koshi and make-koshi flying off the shelves. The only Darwin Match we have tomorrow is Kotoshoho vs. Endo. Endo took another hard bump off the ring on Day 14 and continues to look in terrible shape.
Sadanoumi goes into Day 15 with a 7-7 record, too. He’s going to fight the 6-8 Atamifuji.
See you tomorrow when we put this basho to bed!
Rooting for Taka!
You could really see that bout turn against Takayasu. Tomorrow he's got Abi, who hasn't been great this tournament, and Onosato has Kotozakura, who he's beaten in the past. Will it come down to a playoff? It's gonna be an exciting day!